Rose, The Novelization
by Josman
Summary: The first part of a series of Target-Style novelizations for the revived series.
1. 1 An Unearthly Intruder

**Author's Notes: Though the classic series novelizations are very popular among fans, the BBC are reluctant to produce any for the revived series. This is understandable since novelizations are less profitable in this day and age. But what is fan fiction for but to plug in the gaps the official release can't.**

**Disclaimer: As you may have guessed, I do not own Doctor Who.**

**Rose**

**Chapter 1: An Unearthly Intruder**

In the entirety of the universe, there was no race that could imagine the unbelievable vastness of space and time. There were worlds made of diamonds. Worlds swathed in negative light. 3000 new stars were being born every second.

Among the vast panoply of worlds, the small blue-green planet seemed surprisingly insignificant to many. Its main sentient race were only just poking their noses out beyond the atmosphere and their colonisation schemes were yet to extend further than their single moon. To most of the world's inhabitants, the distant stars still felt like tiny dots on the night sky. Life dragged on, much as it had for hundreds of years.

On an ordinary Tuesday morning, in a council flat in London, a twenty-something girl was woken by the steady beep of her alarm clock. Instinctively, she reached for the snooze button before remembering that she'd already done so once and now had to drag herself up and get her thought into some semblance of order. Most of them concerned with wondering who's bright idea it was that everything should get done in the morning.

"Morning Rose." Her mother said chirpily as she moved into the kitchen, handing her a fresh cup of tea. Rose had a feeling that woman never went anywhere if it was more than five minutes from the nearest source of tea. Though her habit did have its uses.

She could never be bothered to fry anything in the mornings so she poured herself some cereal. The milk was a couple of days past its date but she poured it on anyway.

Feeling slightly more awake, she threw some clothes on, brushed her hair, kissed her mum goodbye and headed for the bus, which was on time for a change.

At 8:00, her shift in a department store began. Locating empty shelves or items which had been on display longer than a fortnight, clearing space, re-stocking the shelf and then repeating the process. Just as she'd done every day that she'd worked there. Just as she would probably be doing every working day of her life since she had only a handful of GCSEs on her CV. Sometimes, she sometimes longed to meet difficult customers just to add some variety to the day.

It wasn't all bad though, at lunchtime, she headed to Trafalgar Square where her boyfriend Mickey had arranged to meet her for lunch. Mickey always had a way to brighten up the day. He spent their time together entertaining her with the stories of the misadventures of drunken friends.

All too soon though, the lunch hour was over and it was back to endless inescapable drudgery. Rose found it hard to believe that there were people in the world who actually liked their jobs.

Finally though, 5:00 came around and Rose could pull on her hoodie and made her way home. Perhaps see if anything was on the telly or head to the pub. And then do all this again tomorrow.

Halfway to the door however, her supervisor, miss Oswin, tapped her on the shoulder. "Forgotten something?" She said, shaking a small bag.

Rose sighed. At least this would only take a couple of minutes. As the others made their way out, she made her way to the staff lifts, hitting the button for the sub basement.

The storage floor was a far cry from the bright and sparkly showrooms. It comprised a collection of dimly lit stock rooms, connected by bare concrete corridors. Any customer who got out on this floor (as some had, by mistake) might have thought they'd wandered into the set of a horror film. The floor was also where the maintenance staff lived and that was who she'd come to see.

She knocked on a door labelled _HP Wilson CEO_ "Wilson? Are you there? I've got the Lottery money. Listen, I can't hang about 'cos they're closing the shop. Wilson?" She tried the handle and found the door locked. Typical.

A small clunk sounded in one of the rooms as something got knocked over. Well that was a start. "Hello? Hello Wilson, it's Rose." She called following the sound through the door. Inside was a long room lined with a low ceiling. The floor was littered with piles of junk, and manikins of all shaped and sizes, in a variety of states of half dress. "Wilson?" She called several more times, moving deeper into the room.

What she didn't realise was that the door was swinging shut behind her. Not until she heard it slam. She rushed back and rattled the handle several times but it had auto locked. It was with increasing alarm that she realised that she didn't know the number of anyone with a key.

Before she could reflect further, she heard something else falling to the floor. Rose had heard stories about young girls working late who'd ended up taken captive by intruders. She was increasingly worried that was about to happen to her. "Is there someone mucking about?" She shouted uncertainly. She moved away from the door and peered intently at all the junk piles but it was a futile task. There were just too many places someone could hide. "Who is it?"

Rose thought about grabbing a loose arm off a dummy to use as a weapon but she was too afraid that some serial killer may be impersonating one, waiting for her to come closer. Her mind conjured images of every dummy in the place suddenly reaching out for her. A moment later, she realised that one of the dummies actually was reaching out for her. Raising its arm and turning its head her way.

Rose backed away from it. "Okay, you've got me very funny."

The dummy took a stepped out and turned to follow her. It was a bit slow at first and it creaked and stumbled with every step.

"Right, I've got the joke. Who's idea was this?"

The dummy ignored her and continued forward. Around it one after another was raising itself up to join it.

"Is it Derek? Derek is this you?" Rose spun around to see manikins closing in on her from all sides. Panic rising, she dodged through the only gap she could find and backed away further. Every dummy in the place was moving now, their initial stiffness was overcome and they marched forward with steady rhythm. Her back hit the wall just as the nearest one raised its arm. Rose closed her eyes in anticipation.

Just then, a fleshy hand grabbed her's. She opened her eyes to see a skin headed man, dressed in leathers smiling at her. "Run!" He said, and whisked her down a narrow passage and out of a back door. The dummy's karate chop missed her by inches and split open a steam pipe behind her.

The two of them fled down a back corridor. The dummies in hot pursuit. Several ranks more of the things came stumbling out of other rooms, trying to catch them. But somehow they made it through the gauntlet and into the lift. But before the door could shut, a dummy managed to get its arm in, fingers grasping furiously for the leather-clad man's throat. Without even breaking a sweat, the man grabbed the arm and twisted until it snapped free of its owner. Wit it out of the way, the doors swung shut.

"You've pulled his arm off!" Said Rose, pressed against the back wall.

"Yep." He said handing it to her. "Plastic."

Indeed, the arm was solid plastic. "Very clever, nice trick." Said Rose. "Who were they then, students? Is this a student thing or what?"

"Why would they be students?"

"I don't know."

"Well you said it."

"'cos... to get that many people dressed up and being silly, they've got to be students."

The man smiled. "Good idea, well done."

"Thanks."

"They're not students."

"Whoever they are, when Wilson finds out, he's going to call the police."

"Who's Wilson?"

"Chief electrician."

"Wilson's dead." The man said, with a tone no more serious than someone saying a plate had got broken. At this point, the lift reached the ground floor and he strolled out.

"That's not funny, that's sick!" Rose cried, following him.

"Mind your eyes." Said the man. He waved a strange blue whistling device at the lift button, which emitted a puff of smoke.

Rose was becoming increasingly confused. "Who are you then? Who's that lot down there?" The man hadn't broken his stride and was marching down the corridor towards the fire exit. Rose ran after him. "Hey, answer me, what's going on?"

"They're called Autons. They're made of plastic. Living plastic. They're being controlled by a big relay device up on the roof. Which would be a big problem if I didn't have this." With one hand, he waved a small box which was beeping. With the other, he pushed the fire exit open. "So... I'm gona go upstairs and blow it up and I might well die in the process. But don't you worry about me you go home." He guided Rose out the door. "Go on. Go have your lovely beans on toast. Don't tell anyone about this 'cos you'll get them killed." He shut the door. Rose stood, blinking, in the back alley for a few moments before the man opened the door again. "I'm The Doctor, by the way. What's your name?"

"Um... Rose."

"Nice to meet you Rose. Run for your life!" And with that, he closed the door once more.

Rose took his advice to heart and ran. She sprinted down the side alley. Round the front and across the street before she paused for breath.

All around her, life was proceeding as normal. Commuters were making their way home. Tourists were marvelling at the buildings and the traffic was crawling along the street. It was hard to believe that she'd just been attacked by creatures which shouldn't exist and barely escaped with her life. And yet she still had the Auton's arm clutched in her hand.

Shaking badly, Rose headed for the bus. Only for a tremendous explosion to sound from the upper floor, almost knocking her off her feet. She turned back and saw the entire department store engulfed in flames. Shards of glass were raining down on the street below. Rose ran all the harder, the strange blue box she had to dodge around barely registering in her mind.

* * *

"I know. It's on the telly. It's everywhere! She's lucky to be alive!" Jackie Tyler spoke to her friend on the phone as she made more tea. Her daughter was sat in the living room, watching a news report on the blast, though her mind was clearly miles away. "Honestly, it's aged her. Skin like an old bible. Walking in now you'd think I was her daughter."

Her mum's conversation was cut off by a knock on the door. Mickey rushed past Jackie the moment she'd opened it, and threw an arm around Rose.

"I've been phoning your mobile and everything. You could have been dead. It's on the news and everything!" He said. "I can't believe the shop went up."

"I'm fine. Honestly." Said Rose, flinching slightly under his grasp.

Mickey sensed her discomfort and let go. "What happened though?"

"I don't know." She lied.

"But what caused it?"

"I don't know. I wasn't in the shop. I was outside."

Her mum returned with the phone. "It's Debie on the end. She knows a man at The Mirror. 500 quid for an interview."

"Oh that's brilliant." Said Rose. "Give it here." She took the phone and hit end call.

Jackie glared at her daughter. "Well, you've got to find some way of making money. Your job's kaput and I'm not bailing you out." The phone rang once more so she picked it up. "...Hello Beth... Yeah, I've told her... She should sue for compensation. She was within seconds of death!"

Rose turned her attention back to her drink. "What you drinking? tea?" Said Mickey. "Nah Nah, that's no good. You're in shock. You need something stronger."

"I'm alright." She insisted once more. But Mickey tried to pull her to her feet.

"No. C'mon. You deserve a proper drink. We're going down the pub. You and me, my treat."

Rose smiled. "Is there a match on?"

Mickey looked awkward. "No no. I'm just thinking about you."

"There's a match on, isn't there?"

"Well... yeah. But that's not the point. Though we can catch the last 20 minutes."

"Go on then. Go. I'm fine really. Oh and could you take that out when you go?" She nodded at the plastic arm lying on the chair.

Finally satisfied that she'd be fine. Mickey kissed her goodbye and got up to leave. Though Rose caught his leg briefly on the way out. "Bye." He called, using the plastic hand to wave, then pretended it was strangling him. Anything to cheer Rose up.

She looked back at the news and wondered if she should have done something. She was just glad that the BBC were reporting no casualties.

Mickey made a brief detour to toss the arm in the dustbins and then strode off, trying to think which pub was nearest. He guessed that would be The City Arms, though it tended to be overcrowded when there were matches on.

Had he stood a little longer, he may have heard a rattling sound as something clambered up the side of the bin.


	2. 2 The Mysterious Doctor

**Chapter 2: The Mysterious Doctor**

7:30 came again and Rose instinctively whacked the snooze button.

"No point getting up." Her Mum called. "You've got no job to go to."

Rose switched the clock off and went back to sleep.

* * *

Some time later, she sat in the kitchen, contemplating her prospects. The only thing worse than a menial job was no job at all. Now she had bugger all to do all day and no money to do anything with.

"You could try Finch's." Jackie suggested, coming out of the bathroom. "They've got jobs going there."

"Great, the butchers." Rose said sarcastically.

"Well it might do you good. That shop's given you hairs and graces. And I'm not joking about compensation. You've had genuine shock and trauma." She went to find her hair dryer. "Ariana got 2000 quid off the council just because the old man behind the desk said she looked Greek. Of course, she is Greek but that's not the point. It's a valid claim."

Rose chewed on her mother's words. She pictured herself telling the court, a story of living mannequins, a murdered electrician and a mysterious rescuer who identified himself only as "The Doctor." She then pictured trying to explain it to the men in white coats.

A rattling from the door broke her chain of thought. "Mum, I told you to nail that cat flap down. We're gona' get strays."

"I did it weeks back."

Rose had gone to investigate. "Nah, you thought about it." She found several bent nails lying near the cat flap. That was odd. Just then something prodded the flap from the other side. She nervously prodded back. Finding no resistance, she shoved it open, to reveal The Doctor's face. She quickly opened the door.

"What're you doing here?" He said with a hint of confusion.

"I live here."

"Well what'd you do that for?"

"'Cos I do. I'm only at home because someone blew up my job."

The Doctor looked at his blue whistling device. "Must've got the wrong signal. You're not plastic are you?" He tapped her head experimentally. "No. Bone head. Well, see ya"

But Rose grabbed him and dragged him in. "You. Inside. Now. We need to talk."

"Who is it?" Her mother called.

"Just... part of the enquiry about last night. We'll be ten minutes."

"She deserves compensation." Said Jackie, as the man paused by her bedroom door.

"Ho, we're talking millions." The man said.

Upon sighting him, Jackie's expression immediately softened. She ran her hand through her hair suggestively and clutched her dressing gown in a way that accentuated her breasts. "I'm in my dressing gown."

"Yes. You are." Said The Doctor, not catching on.

"There's a strange man in my bedroom."

"Yes. There is."

"Anything could happen."

The Doctor realised what she was suggesting. "No."

"Don't mind the mess. Do you want a coffee?" Said Rose as he came through.

"May as well, thanks. Just milk."

Rose went into the kitchen and began looking for a clean mug. "We should go to the police. Seriously. Both of us..."

The Doctor looked at a glossy magazine on the Tylers' coffee table, which was lying open on a story about a new celebrity couple. He knew the two would never last. The mab was gay and the woman was an alien.

"...I'm not blaming you. Even if it was just some joke that... sort of went wrong..."

He noticed one of his favourite books on the shelf and skim re-read it. "Sad ending." He muttered.

"...It said on the news, they found a body..."

The Doctor had a look at the mirror. You never could quite get used to each face. He supposed it could have been worse, though he would have preferred if his ears didn't stick out so much.

"...All the same he was a nice bloke..."

The Doctor picked up some cards and flicked them from one hand to the other. Or at least tried. The cards just scattered over the floor.

"...If we are going to go to the police I want to know what I'm saying. I want you to explain everything."

The Doctor heard something scuttling behind the sofa. "Do you have a cat?" He had a look. Behind the sofa, the auton's arm lay, coiled like a snake. The moment he saw it, it sprang up and dug its fingers into its throat.

"No." Said Rose, pouring the coffee. "We did have but we used to get strays, that came in off the estate."

She returned to the living room with a mug in each hand, to find The Doctor pretending to grapple with the plastic arm, which was odd, she thought Mickey had chucked it out. Honestly, men were all the same, give them a plastic hand and they think they take it as a cue to perform bad comedy. "Anyway, I don't even know your name. Doctor what was it?"

The Doctor finally broke the hand's grip, accidentally launching it across the room, where is grabbed on to Rose's face, cutting off her airways.

Both grabbed the arm and tried to yank it away but it had a grip like iron. The Doctor made a foolhardy kick against the wall, which only resulted in the two of them toppling over and smashing the coffee table. Finally, with some clever levering, The Doctor got the arm free.

Rose gasped for breath as she watched The Doctor fiddling with his blue light thing, searching for the right setting. Finding it, he pressed it against the arm. The fingers twitched and spasmed for a few moments before stopping dead.

"Stopped it." He said. "Completely 'armless."

* * *

"Wait. You can't just swan off."

The Doctor barely gave her a backwards glance as he hurried down the stairs. "Course I can. This is me, swanning off."

"But that arm was moving. It tried to kill me!"

"Ten out of ten for observation."

"You can't just walk away, that's not fair. You've got to tell me what's going on."

"No I don't."

Rose growled in frustration as the man pushed the front door open and marched out into the estate. Why was he being so stubborn?

She hurried after him and tried a different approach. "Ok, I'll go to the police. I'll tell everyone. You told me if I did that, I'd get people killed so... your choice start talking."

The man smiled at her. "Is that supposed to sound tough?"

"Sort of, yeah."

"Doesn't work."

Well this was getting no-where. Maybe he just wasn't keen to explain everything at once. She decided to start smaller. "Who _are _you?"

"I told you. The Doctor."

"Yeah, but... Doctor what?"

"Just "The Doctor""

""The Doctor"?"

"Hello." He said cheerily.

Rose smiled "Is that supposed to sound impressive?"

"Sort of." He slowed his pace so Rose could walk alongside him.

"So tell me then. 'cos I've seen enough. Are you the police?"

"No. I was just passing through." The Doctor hesitated over some point. "I'm a long way from home."

"But what have I done wrong? How come those plastic things keep coming after me?"

"Oh, so suddenly the entire world revolves around you? You were just an accident. You got in the way, that's all."

"It tried to kill me." Rose stressed the point again.

"It was after me, not you. Last night, in the shop, I was fighting it. You blundered in, almost ruined the whole thing. This morning, I was tracking it, it was tracking me. The only reason it fixed on you was because you'd met me."

"So what you're saying is: the entire world revolves around you?"

"Sort of, yeah."

Rose laughed. "You're full of it."

"Sort of, yeah."

"But all this plastic stuff. Who else knows about it?"

"No-one."

"You're on your own?"

"Well who else it there? You lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed and watch telly. While all the while, underneath you there's a war going on."

Somehow, his words were even more confusing than his silence.

"Let's start from the beginning." Said Rose. "If we are going to go with this living plastic thing... How did you kill it?"

"The thing controlling the arm injects life into the plastic. I cut off the signal. Dead."

"So that's... Radio control?"

"Thought control."

By now they'd reached a back street near the park. A blue box stood on the corner. "That surprise you?" The man said.

"Well, yeah. So who's controlling it then?"

"Long story."

"But... Shop window dummies. What's that about? Is someone trying to take over Britain's shops?" She asked, with a laugh.

The Doctor laughed with her. "No. It's not a price war."

"I suppose not." She sniggered.

He abruptly stopped laughing and said "They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you." The girl made no response. "You believe me?"

"No."

"But you're still listening."

Rose stopped dead. "Doctor. Really though, who are you?"

For the first time, The Doctor stopped and looked at her seriously. Up to this point, he'd acted as though this entire conversation was a game. Now he was taking a much more somber attitude. "Do you know like we were sayin'? About the Earth revolving? It's like when you're a kid. The first time they tell you that the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it 'cause everything looks like it's standin' still." He was looking at her but his eyes clearly weren't focused on anything within a million miles of her. "I can feel it." He took Rose's hand. "The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinnin' at 1,000 miles an hour and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at 67,000 miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're fallin' through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go..." He let go of her hand. "That's who I am. Now forget me, Rose Tyler. Go home."

And with that the conversation was over. The Doctor strode off towards the street corner. Rose watched him go for a few moments Then started for home.

As she went, she heart a phenomenal wheezing and grinding like nothing she'd ever heard before. Though she didn't know it, it was the sound of the whole fabric of space twisting and folding and little shockwaves spreading out.

She raced back to the street but The Doctor had gone. Along with the blue box.

* * *

Mickey pulled his front door open, to fine Rose stood there. "Hey hey. There's my woman!" He called, giving her a quick kiss. "Coffee?"

"Yeah, but only if you wash the mug first. and I mean _wash._ Not _rinse_. Can I use your computer?"

"Any excuse to get you the bedroom." He nodded. A thought suddenly occurred to him. "Don't read the browsing history!"

Rose had no intention of just letting the matter drop. Someone out there must know a bit more than this Doctor would tell her. But where to look? She tried Googling "Doctor" and got 234,000,000 results. Most of them covering medical doctors. She tried "Doctor living plastic" and got linked to some b movie called _The Living Plastic Creations of Doctor Recorberg._ She tried "Doctor blue box" and finally found something promising. A link simply titled _Doctor Who?_

Clicking on it linked her to a screenshot, headed _Have you seen this man? Contact Clive._ and an email address. The photo was heavily pixelated but it was indistinguishable. That was her Doctor.

* * *

A few days later, Mickey pulled in by the side of a row of terraced houses. "You're not coming in." Rose was saying. "He's safe. He's got a wife and kids."

"Yeah. Who told you that?" Mickey said, with a hint of annoyance. "He did. That's just what an internet lunatic murderer would say."

His girlfriend ignored him and left the car, heading for the front door. Mickey liked to think of himself as a man of action, though he'd never seen much. He therefore made a survey of the street, just in case They had to make a quick getaway. He estimated that he could get the car started in three seconds, get it into gear and power away the moment Rose jumped in. Provided there were no other lunatic murderers down the road to stop them. He scanned. The road was clear, with no traffic about on a Sunday. There was a woman walking a dog and a bin man dropping off the bins. He scrutinised them thoroughly, but they seemed clean.

Rose knocked and a boy of about 10 answered. "Oh, hello." She said. "Is your dad in? We've been emailing each other."

"Dad." The boy called. "It's one of your nutters."

A round faced jolly-looking man came to the door. "Oh hello. You must be Rose. I'm Clive. Obviously, ha ha."

"I should warn you." Rose joked. "My boyfriend's waiting in the car. just in case you're going to kill me."

Clive laughed "Oh no, good point. No murders here." He gave Mickey a friendly wave.

"Who is it?" His wife called from upstairs.

"It's about The Doctor. She's been reading the website." He turned back to Rose. "Please come through. I'm in the shed."

A woman came down the stairs, her arms full of dirty clothes. "She? She's read a website about The Doctor? It's a she?"

* * *

Though Clive and his home were a far cry from what Rose had expected of a conspiracy theorist, his shed was everything she'd expected.. All around the walls were flowcharts of government cover ups, star charts, photos of yeti in the Himalayas and robots marching past St Pauls.

"Most of this stuff's, y'know, quite sensitive. I, I couldn't just send it. People might intercept. Er, if you know what I mean." He pulled a file from the shelf. "If you dig deep enough. Keep a lively mind. This Doctor keeps cropping up all over the place. Political diaries, conspiracy theories, ghost stories. No first name. No last name. Just "The Doctor". Always "The Doctor.""

He paused for effect, then lost his train of thought. "Er, and the title seems to be passed down from father to son. It, er, appears to be an inheritance. That's your Doctor there isn't it?" He showed Rose the photo displayed on his website.

"Yeah."

"I tracked it down to the Washington public archive last year. The online photo's enhanced. But this is the original." He flipped through several more photos, each zoomed incrementally further away. The Doctor was stood in a crowd of people. Driving past them was another familiar face. "November the 22nd 1963. The assassination of president Kennedy." The Doctor was a row of spectators away.

"That must be his dad." Said Rose.

"Going further back." Clive rushed to fetch another file. "April 1912. This is a photograph of the Daniels family of Southampton. And friend." He pointed a said friend, who was also identical to The Doctor. "This was taken the day they were due to sail to the new world. On The Titanic. For some unknown reason, they cancelled the trip and survived. And er..." He pulled a sketch off the notice board. "1883. Another Doctor." The pencil drawing showed him walking on a tropical beach somewhere. "The same image. It's identical. This one washed up on the coast of Sumatra, on the very night that Krakatoa exploded."

The humour and nervousness were gone from his voice now. This was a serious matter. "The Doctor is a legend woven throughout history. When disaster comes, he's there. He brings the storm in his wake. He has one constant companion."

"Who's that?"

"Death."

* * *

Mickey mentally made another sentry report. No activity in the last minute. Cat still sat on wall. Street still clear. Bin edging along the pavement. Wait what? He stared at the bin, but it had come to rest. Probably just sliding down a small slope.

* * *

"If The Doctor's back." Clive continued. "If you've seen him Rose. Then one thing's for certain. We're all in danger. He's singled you out. If The Doctor's making house calls... Then God help you."

The bin shifted again. This time it turned 45 degrees on the spot as it came to rest.

Mickey decided this was in need of further investigation. He got out of the car and cautiously approached the bin. There was no-one behind it so there must be someone inside. He grasped the lid by both handles and flung it open, ready to grab whoever was screwing with him.

There was no one there. Feeling foolish, Mickey turned to walk away. But as he tried to lift his hands, he found that they would not budge. The surface of the bin was morphing and bubbling around them, forming some incredibly sticky substance. He tried to kick away but fibres of the stuff stretched out with his hands, meanwhile the bin lid began snapping at him and growling like a dog.

He could have called for help but he was too startled by the utter ridiculousness of what was happening. Before his eyes, the bin lid inverted itself and the hinges shifted to the side closer to him. Meanwhile, the walls of the bin opened up, swung round and reformed around him. Finally, the lid slammed down on his head and shoved him inside. The creature controlling it amused itself by causing the bin to burp before trundling off round the corner, where a couple of autons were waiting to collect it.

* * *

"But... Who is he?" Said Rose. "Who do you think he is?"

"I think he's the same man. I think he's immortal. I think he's an alien from another world."

* * *

Rose hurried out as politely as she could. This was just getting ridiculous now and she was beginning to feel as though she was hunting the Loch Ness Monster. She'd probably never find out what happened that night. But it no longer seemed to matter. A few more searches like this and she'd end up like Clive.

"Ok. You were right, he's a nutter, off his head, complete online conspiracy freak. You win." She said to Mickey, climbing back into his car. "What we gona' do tonight. I fancy a pizza."

Mickey was silent for a moment. "Pizza. p-p-pizza." He said airily.

"Or Chinese?"

"Pizza." And with that, they set off.


	3. 3 Inside The Spaceship

**Chapter 3: Inside the Spaceship**

The pizza place they'd found was just the right sort balance between low cost and a good aesthetics.

"Do you think I could try the hospital." Rose was saying as Mickey beamed at her blankly from across the table. "They have jobs in the canteen there." She sighed. "So this is me then. Serving chips all day. I could do A levels, I s'pose. I dun'no. It's all Jimmy Stones's fault. I only left school because of him. Look where he ended up!" At this point, it occurred to her that Mickey had been unusually quiet all this time. "What do you think?"

"So where did you meet this Doctor?" He said, abruptly.

"I'm sorry, was I talking about me for a second?"

"'cos I reckon it all started back at the shop. Am I right? Was it something to do with that?"

"No."

"Come on." Mickey grinned even broader.

"Yeah, kind of. I don't wanna talk about it."

"Your Champaign sir." Someone interrupted.

"We didn't order any." Mickey brushed him off. "What was he doing there?"

"I'm really not going on about it, I'm really not, 'cos... well, I just don't think it's safe."

Mickey grinned, almost wickedly "But come on. You can trust me, can't you babe-sweetheart-babe-babe-sugar." He grasped her hand worryingly tightly. His skin had a cold clammy feel to it "Tell me about The Doctor and what he's planning and I can help you Rose. 'cos that's all I really want to do sweetheart-babe-babe-sugar-babe."

"Your Champaign."

"We didn't order any." Said Rose. "Look, Mickey, what's going on?"

"I need to find out how much you know so where is he?"

"You sure you don't want this Champaign?"

Mickey's eyes narrowed in frustration as he turned to face the waiter for the first time. "Look. We didn't order any..." He abruptly cut off as he found himself looking into the face of The Doctor.

"Don't mind me. Here's to the happy couple." The Doctor said as he shook up the bottle. He popped the cork, firing it at Mickey's face from point blank range.

Rose let out a gasp of alarm, but quickly fell into stunned silence as the cork passed through Mickey's head like a stone through jelly. Clearly, this wasn't her boyfriend. The creature rolled something around in its mouth for a few moments before spitting the cork out over the floor.

Without another word, the Mickey-creature stood up. It raised its right arm high, morphed the hand into a huge axe blade and karate-chopped the table, smashing the glass top and even sheering through the aluminium frame beneath.

At this point, everything started happening very quickly. The creature charged at The Doctor and Rose instinctively rolled off her chair away from it. As if he'd anticipated this move, The Doctor snatched up her chair and used it to deflect the creature's arm as it tried to bring it down on him. He charged in and caught it around the neck. A few seconds of twisting and the head came free.

"Think that's gona' stop me?" Said the head in his hands. The body had raised itself up, now with both hands morphed into axes. But with insufficient time to form new eyes and only what the displaced head could see to go by, it could only blunder vaguely in the Doctor's direction, waving its arms like a cloth puppet being shaken about.

Rose hit the fire alarm. The other diners, who had been screaming or standing petrified, now immediately raced for the exits. She spotted The Doctor running through a door to the rear of the building and instinctively ran after him. She wasn't sure why. She just felt as though she'd be safe with him

She caught up with him as he raced down a corridor lined with offices and cleaning cupboards. Behind her she heard a crash as the creature that she had thought was Mickey reached the corridor, continuing to smash everything in its path as it came after them.

The Doctor shoved open a metal door, leading into a back yard, filled with dustbins. He threw his full weight against the door and, with great effort, managed to hold it shut long enough to lock it with the blue light he always carried.

Rose, meanwhile, had run to the rear gates, the only way out of the yard and was horrified to find them padlocked. "Open the gate!" She screamed. "Use that, blue tube thing!"

"Sonic screwdriver." The Doctor corrected her. "And I don't feel like it. Tell you what, lets hide in here." He pulled out an ordinary key and unlocked that same blue box, which Rose hadn't noticed standing in the yard.

The creature was hammering furiously on the door, knocking huge dents in it. "You can't just hide in a box!" Rose shouted. She returned to the gates, where she yanked and twisted the chain furiously but it would not budge, nor could she see a way of climbing over. Meanwhile, the creature's hammering was getting fiercer. She could almost see the millimetre thin metal straining as it bent out of shape. The door wouldn't hold much longer.

"Doctor!" She shouted, returning to the box, but got no response. She flung the door open so he could hear better... and promptly leapt back several feet, the persusing creature momentarily forgotten. She edged forward and had a better look inside. She looked to the left of the box and to the right. She walked all the way around, scanning for any signs of trickery but found none. Finally, she looked back in through the door, to see a room the size of her flat, within a container the size of a phone box.

A sharp twang brought her back to attention. The Mickey-thing had punched a hole in the metal door and was seconds from breaking through. In a fit of desperation, she charged into the blue box, slamming the door behind her.

"It's gona get in!" She shouted.

"The assembled hordes of Genghis Kahn couldn't break through that door. And, believe me, they've tried." The Doctor replied.

Rose found herself in a roughly dome-shaped room with dull golden walls. The walls were dotted with large hexagonal structures with sloping sides and domed tops. The floor was made of some metal grating and arranged so that a series of concentric circular steps led up towards the centre of the room at a shallow gradient. Around the room, support columns, curved in a coral-like pattern, led radialy from the ceiling to a point midway towards the centre of the floor.

Rose could see no recognisable lighting, the light came from all directions at once. There may have been lights behind the walls but it felt more like the walls themselves were giving out golden light.

But the strongest glow of all came from the massive glass column in the centre of the room. Inside it, bathed in blue light, were a selection of cylindrical shapes Rose had no clue about.

The base of the column was encased by a copper-coloured, bulb shaped structure with six cut-out sections arrayed around the column. On each, she could see a strange collection of controls. There were buttons, levers and monitors. But she could also see bike pumps, cranks and taps.

On one panel, The Doctor was attaching cables to the plastic head. "The arm was too simple. But the head is perfect." He was saying. "I can trace the Nestine consciousness back to its source." He turned to Rose. "So. Where do you want to start?"

Rose thought for a moment. "It's bigger on the inside." She said finally.

"Yep."

"It's alien."

"Yep."

"Are "you alien?"

"Yes... Is that alright?"

"Er, yeah."

"It's called the TARDIS, this thing. That's Time And Relative Dimension In Space.

Overcome by the moment, Rose broke out in tears.

"Culture shock, I know." Said The Doctor. "Happens to the best of us."

"Did they kill him? Did they kill Mickey, is he dead" She sobbed.

The Doctor pondered for a moment. "Didn't think of that."

"He's my boyfriend. You pulled off his head. They copied him and you didn't even think. And now you're gona just let him melt!"

"Melt?" Said The Doctor. He turned back to the console, to see the head melting like a candle thrown into the fire, dripping over the console. "NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!" He roared and hurried round the console hitting controls.

That same wheezing grinding sound echoed throughout the room. The sculptures in the central column began rising and falling in time with the sounds. The floor beneath Rose's feet started shaking. It pitched and rolled like a ship caught in a storm.

Meanwhile, The Doctor was operating the controls with increasing ferocity. The signal was fading. "Come on! You can do it!" He shouted as he worked a crank faster than humanly possible. Finally, with a bump, the machine came to a halt. He hurried past Rose, out the door.

"You can't go out there, it's not safe!"She shouted before running after him. The moment she stepped outside, she found herself on The Embankment, by the Thames. The Doctor was leaning on the rail, a look of intense frustration on his face.

"I was so close!" He growled.

Rose was running out of ways to be startled. "We've moved." She said simply.

"It does that." Said The Doctor.

"What, so it flies?"

"Disappears there and reappears here. You wouldn' understand it."

"But, that plastic creature. Does that mean it's still out there?"

"Would've melted with the rest of him. Leaving me nothing but a cold trail."

Rose sat on a bench and took some breaths. It was hard to believe that she'd been eating pizza with her boyfriend only 10 minutes ago. "I'm going to have to tell his mum." She realised aloud. The Doctor gave her a quizzical look. "Mickey! I'll have to tell his mother he's dead and you just went and forgot him again! You're right. You are alien."

"Look." The Doctor spat. "If I did forget some kid called Mickey, it's because I'm busy trying to save the life of every stupid ape blundering about on top of this planet! Alright?"

"Alright!" Shouted Rose. The Doctor did have a point. The last few days' revelations did make her's and Mickey's lives seem a bit irrelevant. Especially when there were a million new questions she needed answered. She decided to start at the top. "If you're an alien, how come you sound like you're from the north?"

"Lots've planets have a north."

She looked past him to the TARDIS and read a notice across the top. "What's a "Police Public Call Box?""

"Phone box from the 1950s. Clever disguise, don't you think."

"What does this... thing have against Earth."

"Nothing. It loves you lot. you've got a great planet. Lots of smoke and oil. Plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air. Perfect. Just what the Nestine consciousness needs. See it's footstock was destroyed in the war. All its protein planets rotted. So Earth is dinner to it."

"Any way of stopping it?"

The Doctor pulled out a bottle of blue liquid. "Anti-plastic." He explained. "But first I've gotta find it. How do you hide something that big in a city this small?

"Hang on. Find what?"

"The transmitter. The consciousness is controlling every bit of plastic so it needs a transmitter to do it."

"What's this transmitter look like?"

"Like a tranmitter. A huge ring of metal. 'bout 120 metres wide. Slap bang in the middle of London. Right near where we're standing. It must be completely invisible'."

The Doctor noticed that Rose had stopped looking at him. Instead, starring over his shoulder. "What?" He turned but there was no-one in her eye line. He looked back at Rose, who pointed over his shoulder this time. He looked but there was nothing between him and the London Eye. "What?" Rose gave him a look like a teacher trying to instruct a difficult student. He looked again. He still only saw the London Eye... a huge ring of metal 120 metres wide. "Oh." He said. "Fantastic!"

He took Rose's hand and ran down the embankment, up some steps and over Westminster Bridge. Rose was smiling now. The initial shock had worn off, this new world she'd blundered into was now offering excitement, adventure and really wild things, even if it did come with danger.


	4. 4 Nightmare in Plastic

**Chapter 4: Nightmare In Plastic**

The Doctor looked around the base of the London Eye. "Every plastic thing in the world, waiting to come alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires..."

"The breast implants." Rose contributed.

"We've found the transmitter. The consciousness must be somewhere underneath." Said The Doctor.

Rose looked over the railing, where there was a waterproof hatch on the Thames floodplain. "How about here?"

"Looks good to me."

They hurried down some steps, pulled the hatch open and lowered themselves inside. The four-story space they found had once been an access point for sewer workers, before a re-routing had rendered the location impractical. It was the perfect place to remain hidden. The bare concrete walls were ringed with rusty catwalks and staircases, along with the remains of lifting equipment.

The electric lights had gone years ago. The only light came from a huge vat in the centre of the room, in which was contained a mass of glowing viscous liquid. More disturbingly, the liquid was churning and writhing as if it was somehow alive.

"The Nestine consciousness." The Doctor explained. "Can inhabit any plastic body it likes the look of and manipulate it."

Rose forced herself not to gag. "Well, just tip in your anti-plastic and lets go."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "I'm not here to kill it. I've got to give it a chance." He made his way to the centre of the uppermost catwalk. "I seek audience with the Nestine consciousness, under peaceful contract. According to Article 15 of the Shadow Proclamation."

The creature made a noise that was halfway between a roar and a gurgle.

"Thank you." Said The Doctor, who seemed to speak fluent blob. "If I might have permission to approach?"

"Burrolurah..." The creature began but cut off as it noticed Rose running down to the middle catwalk anyway. She'd seen a familiar face there.

"Mickey! It's me! I'm here! Are you alright?"

Mickey was huddled beneath one of the staircases, trembling all over. "That thing down there. The liquid Rose. It can talk!" He whimpered.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and followed after.

"Doctor, they kept him alive!" She said.

"Yeah, that was always a possibility. Keep the real one alive to preserve the copy"

"You knew that and you never said?

"Can we keep the domestics outside, thank you?" He walked past her, down to the lower level and up to a platform, which overhung the vat a small way. "Am I addressing the consciousness?" He asked it.

"Harrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreleleleleleleleeleleg." It said.

"Thank you. If I might make an observation, you infiltrated this civilisation by means of warp shunt technology. So, might I suggest, with the greatest respect that you shunt off." He smiled at his lame pun.

"Breeeeeeeeeeelarm hooooooorahh."

"Oh don't give me that! It's an invasion. Plain and simple. Don't talk to me about constitutional rights!"

"Shereeeeeeeeeeearoooooooooooooogg!"

"I! Am! Talking!" The Doctor roared." This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learnt to walk. But they're capable of so much more. I'm asking on their behalf. Please, just go."

"Doctor!" Rose shouted. He spun around, but too late. Two Autons had been sneaking up on him and now took this opportunity to grab his arms. One held them both behind his back, while the other reached into his jacket and retrieved the anti-plastic.

"That was just insurance." He explained sheepishly. "I wasn't gona use it!"

"Preeeeeeeeeeorororororaaaaaaaaaaa!" The creature snarled.

"I was not attacking you. I'm here to help. I'm not your enemy. I swear, I'm not!"

"Burrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeerrrrrraaaaaaa!"

"What do you mean?"

A set of plastic doors opened, revealing the TARDIS behind.

"No! No! Honestly no!" The Doctor shouted.

"Huuuure?"

"Yes, that's my ship."

"PRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEC!" The creature screamed at him.

The Doctor went pale. "No no! That's not true. I should know, I was there! I fought in the war! I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them!"

"Ererererererererer."

"What's it doing?" Shouted Rose.

"It's identified the TARDIS as superior technology. It's going to final phase. Get out Rose! Get out now!"

With one hand, Rose tried to pry Mickey's petrified grip on the rail. With the other, she fiddled with her phone. "Mum!" She shouted when she got an answer. "Where are you?"

"Oh hello Rose. I was going to phone." Replied Jackie's voice. "You can get compensation. I've just been to get this document from the police. Don't thank me or anything."

"Mum! You need to go home! Just go home right now!"

You're breaking up darling. Listen, I'm just going to do a bit of late night shopping. Tira." And with that, the signal went.

Blots of electricity shot out from the vat catching on connectors all around the room. "It's the activation signal." The Doctor shouted. "It's transmitting."

The signal shot up the support legs of the eye, before radiating out to the ring, which amplified it out across the city. In shops everywhere, dormant soldiers heard the call to war.

* * *

"What's the point of putting our finances in a spreadsheet if you're just going to spend summer money in winter months?" Clive was saying, in response to his wife argument as to why she needed that new jacket.

Any response she might have given was cut off as she leapt in alarm. "Goodness." She said, calming down. "I thought they were dummies."

Clive looked. The dummies in the window were wiggling their arms as if making a clumsy attempt to do the robot. But it wasn't just these. The dummies in every display window in the centre were standing and flexing their joints. Most customers were amused by this display, but Clive was getting a strong premonition of danger.

One of them stepped forward and punched outwards, shattering the glass in front of them. Seconds later, every dummy in the building followed suit. The customers stepped back in alarm but curiosity kept them close.

"It's true!" Said Clive. "All the stories I read, it's all true!"

The nearest dummy raised its arm at him. The hand hinged away, revealing a cylindrical hole. Clive had read enough stories about the Autons to know what was next. A low blast sounded, like an air gun, and he dropped down dead.

Coming down the escalator, Jackie saw the Autons gunning down everyone in sight, while their screaming friends scrambled to escape. Many punched each other out of the way in their desperation to get to the main doors quicker. Anyone who tripped was crushed underfoot. Meanwhile the Autons were firing into the fleeing crowds indiscriminately.

Jackie threw her shopping to one side and ran faster than she'd ever run before.

* * *

Rose had finally got Mickey's hand free. She turned towards the stairs but found them gone. The massive energy pulse from the creature had provided the last little kick to break the heavily rusted supports. Instead, she headed for the TARDIS, the only other way out. Mickey followed along blindly.

But when she got there, she found the doors locked. And she presumed that The Doctor would have the only key.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Nestine conciousnes's signal was being relayed to dozens of other transmitters. Every plastic object within an ever increasing circle rose up to attack the nearest person. Plastic cups bit at people's hands. Bendy straws stabbed down throats. Dolls rose up to strangle their terrified owners.

Jackie fled the shopping centre, but the scene was little better in the street. People were fleeing in all directions but the Autons were crawling out of the buildings like rats. Some brave people were trying to fight back, for all the difference it was making. She watched as a bus driver ran several of them down, smashing them to pieces. But the pieces promptly liquidated and allowed gravity to pool them in the gutter. Freshly formed Autons rose up from the pool.

She took off down the road. In the corner of her eye, she caught one of those things aiming at her and quickly dived behind an abandoned taxi. The vehicle absorbing the shot. She was relatively safe but rescue had to come soon.

Just then, she heard another smash. She turned to see three more dummies in wedding dresses stepping out from a shop. She screamed and cowered against the car but there was nowhere left to run. The three Autons advanced on her, readying their guns.

* * *

Rose crawled forward to peer over the edge of the catwalk. Mickey clung tightly to her leg but she ignored him. Below, The Doctor was struggling furiously with the Auton holding him but getting nowhere. It occurred to her just how easily alien invaders could destroy everything she cared about and how helpless she was to do anything about it. Her only hope was that The Doctor could somehow knock the bottle out of the second Auton's hand.

But no. She was never helpless. She'd always hated people who believed something needed doing but that they either couldn't, wouldn't or shouldn't do it themselves. She would not just cower there and wait for The Doctor to save her.

She threw off Mickey completely and ran up to a fire axe on the wall, snatched it and hurried towards some chains, padlocked to a ring.

"I've got no job." She said. "No A Levels. No future. But I tell you what I do have. Grentmarsh Junior School gymnastics championship under 16s." She broke the padlock with the axe and grabbed the chains as they swung free. "I got the bronze."

The chains were attached to a crane arm overhanging the centre of the room. The moment Rose leapt down, she swung The Doctor's way. Her momentum, combined with a well placed kick, snapped off the Autons's right arm. The doctor used this opportunity to grab the other arm and judo throw it into the vat.

Rose kept up her momentum and kicked the second Auton square in the chest, sending it tumbling in as well. As it fell, its grip closed, smashing the anti-plastic bottle, which spilled over the Nestine consciousness.

The creature screamed and lit up in a brilliant white light. The anti-plastic worked its way through it like a plastic virus, slowly consuming every last bit of it.

Rose swung back and The Doctor caught her. "Now we're in trouble." He said. The pipes which had been fuelling all the Nestine's equipment could not handle the sudden interruption of flow and burst open, spraying fire several feet in front.

By a stroke of luck, none was between them and the TARDIS. A single frantic run was all that they needed to get to safety, dragging a stuttering Mickey with them.

* * *

The three Autons immediately stopped advancing. They twisted and spasmed on the spot as they became increasingly unbalanced. Jackie peered out from behind her hands and watched as each in turn had a leg go out from under them, sending them tumbling to the floor.

The shooting around her had stopped. The Autons were now lying on their backs, twitching like dying insects. Their movements becoming increasingly fractional and uncoordinated. With a final kick, they stopped completely.

All around her, people began moving out from their hiding places, peering around to make sure they were safe.

* * *

Mickey had never fled a room so franticly. He rushed across the yard they'd materialised in and collapsed against a garage door. Rose, meanwhile, calmly stepped out of the TARDIS, fiddling with her phone again.

Her mother answered pretty quickly "Rose! Rose! Don't go outside it's not safe. There were these things and they were shooting..."

"Mum." She cut her off. "It's ok, I'm fine. Listen. I'm going to be looking after Mickey for a while, he seems a bit traumatised. Love you, bye." She rang off and turned to Mickey. "You were useless back there."

"Nestine consciousness." Said The Doctor. "Easy"

"And you weren't much better." She added. "You'd both be dead if it weren't for me."

"Yeah..." Said The Doctor, looking a bit awkward. "Thanks. Right then, I'll be off." A thought occurred to him. "Unless, of course, I dunno, you could come with me? This isn't just a London hopper you know. We can travel everywhere in the universe. Free of charge."

Mickey finally recovered some speech. "Don't. He's-he's an alien. He's a thing!"

The Doctor didn't take kindly to that. "He's not invited. What d' you think? You could stay here and fill your life with work and sleep and food. Or you could go, well, anywhere."

"Is it always this dangerous?" She said.

"Yeah."

Rose pondered for a moment. His offer was tempting. After everything she'd seen these last few days, it only seemed natural that she should jump into this new world with both feet. Staying home would increase her survival odds. But she didn't want to survive, she wanted to live.

Mickey grabbed her around the waist. Of course... her family. She couldn't just leave them at a moment's notice. "Sorry." She said. "I can't. I've got to go find my mum. And someone's got to take care of this useless lump." She squeezed Mickey affectionately.

"Ok. Well, goodbye then." The Doctor said sadly and closed the door.

Seconds later, the engines roared into life. Rose and Mickey watched as the box began to fade, disappearing a little more every time the machine grinded. Finally, it disappeared completely.

Rose picked Mickey up off the floor and put her arm around his shoulders. "Come on." She said soothingly.

But Mickey was recovering his cool and brushed her arm off. "I'm fine. He mumbled. "Culture shock, that's all." Of course, Mickey would rather be left alone for a while if anything upset him. It would be best if she went home now and saw how he was in the morning.

Just then, the TARDIS sounds began building up again behind them. They spun round to see the police box materialising right where it had been.

The Doctor stepped out again. "Did I mention, it also travels in time?"

That clinched it. She didn't have to leave her family. She could go off round time and space and be back in time for breakfast. "Thanks." She said to Mickey.

"For what?"

"Exactly." And with that, she raced into the TARDIS and onwards to adventure.

* * *

**A/N I have no idea how anti-plastic is supposed to work. I assume it's a similar process to the metal virus in Robot.**

**Coming next: The End of The World**


End file.
